Flat-unfolding lunch-box.



K. W. GALE.

FLAT UNFOLDING LUNCH BOX.

APPLICATION FILED J'AH.10,1910.

Patented Feb. 23, 1915.

I Indemior Jag/Z; a2 Gale Ira 76 fZ-u/ /4 Zditrwaras KNIGHT W. GALE, 0]? LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

FLAT-UNFOLDING LUNCH-BOX.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 23, 1915.

Application filed January 10, 1910. Serial No. 537,352.

To all 10/; 0 m it may concern:

lle it known that I, KNIGHT W. GALE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented a new and useful Flat- Unfolding lium-h-llox, of which the following is a specification.

This invention comprises a lunch box formed of :1 sheet folding in a novel manner and held by novel means and adapted when not so held to flatten out, thus to form a table top or cover on which the lunch contained in the box may be spread; said table top affording advertising space so that the value of the sheet as a lunch box is secondary to its value for advertisin purposes, thus insuring sanitation by inducing the advertiser to furnish the lunch box free to the user, or so cheaply that the user will discard it rather than carry it home for re.-use.

The invention also includes a stand designed to hold the structure in box-form while the person preparing the lunch is storing the same in the box.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the lunch box closed and fastened shut as when filled with lunch. Portions are broken away to expose various members of the folded sheet.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the lunch box open and in a stand ready to be filled. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal mid-section of the box open. Fig. 4 is a transverse section of the box open. Fig. 5 is a view of the sheet after the lunch box has-been allowed to flatten out, and the sheet.from which it had been formed is ready for use as a table top. Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the stand detached. Fig. 7 is a view of the handle fastener detached.

The box is composed of a resilient cardboard sheet scored or creased and slit to form a middle bottom panel 20, two side panels 19, 21, adjacent the bottom panel, two top panels 9 and 10 adjacent the side panels respectively, and two handle flaps 32 and 33, adjacentthe top panels, all arranged in a row and united at their ed es; two end flaps 30 and 31 at the ends 0 the bottom panels 20, two pairs of end flaps 22, 25, and 23, 24, united to the ends of the side panels 19, 21; and four locking laps 11, 12, 13 and 14 united to the edges of the end laps and folded upon and free from each other beneath the top panels and having extended edges engaging the side panels so that when the handle flaps are held together the box retains its box-like shape and when the handle laps are allowed to separate the sheet will fall by its own resiliency into flat form.

The united edges between the panels are marked by parallel creases or scores15, 16,17, 18. The united edges between the panels and the end flaps and laps are marked by parallel creases 0r scores 3, 4. The united edges between the locking flaps and the end laps are formed bv extensions of the creases or scores 15, 18. Slits 5, 6, 7, 8, separate between the locking flaps; and slits 26, 27, 28, 29, separate between the end flaps and end laps. The slits 26, 29 are in line with the score 16 and slits 27, 28 are in line with the score 17. The slits 7, 8 are in line with the score 4; and the slits 5 and 6 are inline with the score 3.

The sheet from which the blank is cut may be. a parallelogram as shown in Fig. 5.

The fold between the handle flaps 32 and 33 and the top panels 9 and 10 are marked by scores34, 35, respectively, and the handle flaps are provided with lines 36, 37, of perforations which may be of any suitable size and form, as the oblong rectangle shown to make punchings a, b, that may be subseguently removed for admission of the hand into the handle slots 38, 39, respectively.

Diagonal perforate lines 40, 41, 42, 43 converge to the sheet ends from the slits 5, 6, 7, 8 and mark the lines of division between the trimmings 44, and the handles 32, 33. The transverse end perforate lines 48, 49, 50, 51 extend parallel with the transverse scores from the edges of the sheet to the slits 5, 6, 7, 8 and mark the division lines between the end trimmings 52, 53, 54, which "may respectively be united with the trimmings 44, 4 5, 46 and 47 as a single piece and may be torn off from the sheet after the same has been printed and scored and removed from the press. That is to say, the slit 5 need not extend to the end of the sheet 1, but may join the line 48; and so with slit 6 and line 49, slit 7 and line 50, and slit 8 and line 60.

The handle flaps are adapted to extend above the box and to hold the side panels against the edges of the locking laps, to retain the sheet in box form, while the handles are held toward each other by hand or by fastener.

The stand 0 consists of a single Wire bent reversely from its central body GO'to form two vertical loops forming fingers 61, 62, at opposite ends of thecentral body 60, which loops connect horizontal transverse limbs 63, 64, respectively, that extend from the sides of loops 61, 62, approximately to the middle of the central body 60 and are there connected with longitudinal limbs 65, 66, that terminate in upright standard fingers 67, 68, the upper ends 69, 70, of which are outwardly bent. The tips of the loops are also outwardly bent as indicated at 71, 72.

In practical use, to form the box, the central end flaps 30, 31, will be bent upward from the bottom panel 20 and then the end laps 23, 24, may be grasped and the side panel 21 bent into upright position and the end laps 23, 24, bent over against the end flaps 30, 31, then the end laps 22, 25, may be grasped and the side panel 19 be bent into upright position with said end laps 22, 25,

against the end laps 23, 24, then the open box thus formed may be seated in the stand just described and the box is ready to be filled; after which the locking laps 11, 12, 13, 14, may be bent down to form the cover of the box and the top panels 9 and 10 bent over the same, thus bringing the handle fla s 82, 33, against each other where they may c fastened by the key 73 inserted through key holes 74, 75, which may be punched into the handle flaps at any period in the rocess of manufacturing the box, or therea ter. The handles thus restrainthe flattening tendency of the sheet and such tendency co-acts therewith to maintain the sha e of the box' so long as the handles are he d'together;

When the lunch is tobe eaten, the keywill be withdrawn from the key holes and the handles drawn apart and the sheet will then flatten out, thus giving access to the lunch which remains entirely on the sheet and affords a sheet or table-top upon which the lunch may be spread.

The outer edges of the top laps 11, 12, 13, 14 are shown divergent from the inner edges thereof diverging outwardly away from the end flaps so that when the sheet is folded into box form the tips 76 of said divergent outer edges will engagethe inner faces of the side members and will be bent or compressed thereby and will thus be not only frictionally held from endwise withdrawal but will also be kept from drooping loosely onto the contents of the box and said top laps will be held in practical parallelism with the bottom panel of the box.

The sheet being made of cardboard has a tendency to spread apart and flatten out and therefore the stand is desirable for use by the person who may wish to fold the sheet into box form. This tendency usually causes the box to open, flatten out and disappear in so far as the box isfiioncerned and the sheet then becomes a tablecover. The advertisements which may be applied on the entire upper face of the sheet will then be open to view.

I claim I.

A box composed of a sheet folded to form bottom, sides, ends and top, the ends being formed of flaps and the top being formed of laps, the outer edges of said laps being divergent from the inner edges thereof outwardly from the end flaps so that when the sheet is folded in the box, said divergent edges will engage the inner face of the sides of the box and will be bent or compressed thereby and will thus be kept from drooping loosely, onto the contents of the box, and said top laps will be held in practical parallelism with the bottom of the box.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set In hand at Los Angeles, California, this 31st ay of December, 1909.

KNIGHT W. GALE.

In presence of JAMES R. Townsmm, L. BELLE RICE.

It is hereby certified that in Letters Patent No. 1,129,343, granted February 23,

1915, upon the application of Knight W. Gale, of Los Angeles, Callifornia for an improvement in Flat-Unfolding Lunch-Boxes errors appear in thefprinted specification requiring correction as follows: Page 1, line 97, strike out the referencenumerals 53, 54, 55 same page, line 99, strike out the referenee numemls 45, 46,

end 47; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with these corrections therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

' Signed and sealed this 23rd day of March, D., 1915. i

[am 1 J. T. NEWTON,

Acting Commissioner of Patents. 

